Nightmares Coming True
by Alice Fang Cullen
Summary: A new case turns quickly into one of the worst and most personal for the team when one of their own becomes one of the victims. As the team tries to solve the case they have to deal with shocking revelations and some of them have to face their worst nightmares coming true. Meanwhile Hotch is confronted with an internal battle of his own. Rating might go up later!


_**Discs.:**__ I don't own anything you recognize from Criminal Minds!  
__**Summary:**__ A new case turns quickly into one of the worst and most personal for the team when one of their own becomes one of the victims. As the team tries to solve the case they have to deal with shocking revelations and some of them have to face their worst nightmares coming true. Meanwhile Hotch is confronted with an internal battle of his own.  
__**Pairings:**__ Hotch/Haley, Hotch/Elle  
__**Genres:**__ Angst, Crime, Suspense, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Friendship, Family  
__**Spoilers:**__ Season 1, up to maybe around "Machismo"  
__**Warnings:**__ Mentions violence and other stuff involved in the show, but nothing graphic. Contains sexual references, though also nothing graphic or overly explicit. Characters near death, possibly also character death...  
__**A/N:**__ Yet another new story! I had this idea already quite a while ago, but never got to actually start writing it due to having so many other ideas... Anyways, enjoy reading!_

* * *

**Nightmares Coming True**

_1. A tough new case_

After splitting up the team rushed, along with several agents from the D.C. field office and local police officers, through the woods, searching in a desperate hurry for where their missing colleague could be hidden. While searching all Hotch could think was that they had to find her, she just couldn't die...

_At the BAU office, two days earlier:_

The team had been called in on a serial killer case by the D.C. field office. So far 5 women had been murdered and they had absolutely no leads and close to no evidence.

Currently the team was sitting in the round-table-room, going through files about the different victims and trying to build a profile for the UnSub.

"So, what do we got so far?" Hotch inquired, looking up from the file he had been reading and taking a glance at the members of his team.

"Well, judging by the age of the victims, and taking the general MO into account, it's likely the UnSub is in his mid-twenties to mid-thirties like the victims." Morgan started listing the few things they did know and what those things told them about the killer.

After a moment JJ pointed out,

"While the victims are all the same physical type the overall victimology seems rather random - considering that the victims' lives have absolutely nothing in common. It's as if the UnSub grabbed them simply due to having the opportunity to do so."

"Even though there's no detectable sexual element in the murders the MO shows characteristics of a sexual sadist." Elle paused for a moment, then she went on,

"It's possible that he can't rape them for some sort of physical or psychological reason. Or maybe he's currently still in control enough of his homicidal urges that burying them alive and watching them die a slow, painful death is enough to satisfy him. However, eventually this will no longer be enough for him."

"The meticulousness he shows in executing his crimes suggests that he might be suffering from severe paranoia. Which would explain why we got absolutely nothing so far, except for things the UnSub doesn't mind us finding because they lead us nowhere." Morgan added.

_At Elle's place, around 9:30 PM the following evening:_

Not having made any progress despite having worked nonstop on the case for the past twenty-four hours Hotch had decided that they could all use a break. First they had headed to an Italian restaurant in D. dinner before parting and heading home.

Unlocking the door to her house and opening it Elle let out a sigh, glad to be home. After entering the house she closed and locked the door, before heading further inside. She quickly took off her jacket, hanging it into the closet, and put her purse away. A moment later she continued to her bedroom, where she put her travel-bag away, deciding to not bring it the following day, since they were working on a local case. Eventually she went into the adjacent bathroom to take a nice, hot bubble-bath to relax. Letting the bathtub fill she added her favorite scented bath additive to the water. Once the tub was filled Elle turned on the stereo standing on a small-table in one corner of the room and put her favorite CD on, before undressing and getting into the bathtub.

As Elle got eventually out of the water due to it having gotten too cold she was completely relaxed and at ease. She quickly dried off and treated her skin to an expensive, high-quality body-lotion, before getting dressed for the night and brushing her teeth. Only a few minutes later she emerged from the bathroom and headed over to her bed. Once she had reached it she pulled the covers back and got in, wrapping the blanket tightly around herself and curling slightly up. Before long she had fallen asleep.

_The next morning, 6:00 AM:_

Waking up Elle felt full of energy and seeing how early it still was she decided that instead of staying a bit longer in bed she would go for a nice, long run before getting ready for work. So she quickly got out of bed and headed for her dresser to get fresh clothes. Opening it she grabbed a pair of grey sweatpants, a light violet tank top and a navy blue sweatshirt-jacket. After getting dressed she put on her running shoes, before leaving the bedroom. On her way out she got her iPod and keys. She paused only once more in front of the mirror in the hallway to brush her hair, then she left. Once she had reached the sidewalk she started to jog to warm up, before increasing slowly her pace.

_At the BAU office, 9:15 AM:_

Hotch was sitting in his office working on some paperwork. Lifting his cup of coffee he took a gulp of the barely lukewarm liquid, emptying the cup. Releasing a low sigh he rose from his seat and went to leave his office to get some more coffee. However, while he could really use the caffeine due to having barely gotten any sleep because Jack had stomach cramps and cried most of the night, he had to admit that what compelled him to leave his office was in fact that he wanted to check if Elle had by now arrived.

"She's still not in?" Hotch asked, trying to keep his composure as he took a look around the bullpen, not wanting the others to notice how worried he was. Seeing JJ and Morgan shake their heads in response he sighed, before continuing on his way to the kitchen area.

Once he had filled his cup with coffee he headed back to his office. As soon as he had entered his office and closed the door behind him he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Elle's number. However, his call only went straight to voicemail. Before he could leave a message someone opened his office door and he ended the call, turning to look at the person.

Seeing it was JJ he asked,

"What's up?" He felt his worry rise and turn into slight panic at the expression on the blond's face.

"Garcia just found another live video feed from the UnSub." JJ replied.

At that Hotch sighed, closing momentarily his eyes,

"He's escalating..."

"It's worse than that." JJ said as he looked back at her and they locked eyes for a moment,

"The woman in the video is Elle."

At that Hotch went pale, visibly shocked, and all but exclaimed,

"What?!"

JJ sighed,

"You should see it for yourself..." She trailed off.

Hotch gave a brief nod and went to leave his office once more and head to the round-table-room, JJ following after him. While walking Hotch hoped against hope that JJ might be wrong, that the woman in the UnSub's video wasn't Elle...

However, entering the round-table-room and glancing at the TV screen on the wall he found what JJ had said confirmed. There was absolutely no doubt that the woman in the video was indeed Elle.

She was lying in a coffin-like box, almost completely motionless, knowing that she won't use up the limited oxygen within the box as quickly if she remained still and avoided panicking. It would give them at least a little more time to find her. The only indicator that she was alive and conscious was the slow rise and fall of her chest as she breathed in and out and the occasional blinking of her eyelids.

For a couple of minutes all of them remained perfectly silent as they watched horrified the footage from somewhere beneath the ground.

Eventually breaking the silence Hotch instructed,

"Tell Garcia to find a way to track down where the footage is coming from." His voice sounded slightly hoarse as he tried not to let his emotions show and it lacked its usual strength.

"She's already on it. If someone's capable of determining the location from which the feed is sent it's her." Morgan said in response.

"Nobody doubts that. The question is whether she can find the location fast enough." Gideon stated what all of them knew, but didn't really want to say aloud - this was a race against time and the odds were against them.

_Around noon:_

It had felt like ages but eventually Garcia had tracked down the origin of the video feed of Elle and the team left to get there. On the way out Hotch arranged for local police and agents from the D.C. field office to meet them there to speed up the search.

Once they had reached their destination they quickly got out of the cars and after Hotch gave some instructions to everyone they split up and began to quickly search the area.

After a couple of minutes Morgan paused as his cell phone started ringing. Pulling it out and seeing on the display that it was Garcia he quickly answered the call,

"What's up?"

Garcia remained silent for a few seconds, apparently thinking about how to phrase whatever it was, eventually she told him,

"Uhm, I got bad news... Elle passed out again, and so far she didn't come to..." While they had been waiting for Garcia to track down the signal the team had had to watch helplessly how Elle had - despite using the oxygen less quickly up due to remaining calm instead of panicking - slowly started having increasingly trouble breathing, making clear that they were running more and more out of time. Eventually she had started to drift more and more frequently off to unconsciousness, though she always opened her eyes again after mere seconds. However, it had been clear that it took her more and more effort each time to keep them open.

At Garcia's words Morgan let out a heavy sigh. Of course the news didn't come totally unexpected, after all it had been inevitable that the increasingly severe lack of oxygen in combination with the rising level of carbon dioxide and other such gases would eventually cause Elle to pass out, probably sooner rather than later. However, it showed him that much clearer just how badly the odds were stacked against them.

"For how long?" Morgan wanted to know, pushing his thoughts aside.

Garcia took a glance at her watch and the time code of the live feed, then she replied,

"About a minute, maybe two..."

Morgan remained momentarily silent, knowing that this was far from good. A moment later he stated,

"Listen Garcia, I need you to narrow the location further down. There's too much ground to cover and far too little time."

"Of course..." Garcia muttered, her normally cheerful, teasing, often not entirely appropriate attitude having vaporized into thin air. In the silence he could hear her typing hurriedly on one of the keyboards at her desk. After yet another felt eternity Garcia broke the silence,

"It's northwest from you, about five-hundred feet."

Quickly starting to move in the direction Garcia had told him Morgan wanted to know,

"How accurate is that?"

"Pretty accurate. She has to be in a three-foot radius of there - eight tops."

"Thanks." Morgan said and hung up. Pocketing his cell phone he hurried up, while telling the others over the radio what Garcia had said.

As they neared the area Garcia had indicated they slowed down, studying thoroughly the ground to see if there were any spots where the ground had been disturbed very recently.

Stepping closer to Morgan as they scanned carefully the ground Hotch inquired,

"You're sure this is the right place?" After all, judging by what Garcia had told Morgan Elle didn't have much time left. Right now every second counted, which meant they couldn't effort to spend time focusing on one limited part of the forest searching signs of someone digging a hole just to realize they had been looking in the wrong place.

Morgan looked briefly up from the ground and at Hotch's face, then he replied,

"Yeah, Garcia said she has to be here."

Hotch nodded, focusing back on studying the forest ground.

Only a minute or so later two of the D.C. agents found a patch of ground that had clearly been disturbed in the past 24 to 48 hours and whose shape and size fit, causing Hotch and the rest of the team along with the couple of local cops and agents to stop.

Two of the cops, who were each carrying a shovel, glanced toward Hotch for a moment. Seeing him nod they quickly began to dig, while the rest of the cops and the agents watched nervously.

When they had finally fully uncovered the box the two cops who had been digging dropped the shovels and hurriedly opened it. Watching them Hotch and the rest of the team hold their breath, hoping and praying that it wasn't too late to save Elle...

_Tbc_

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Thanks for reading, I hope you liked the first chapter! I will try to post the next chapter some time in the coming days, but I'm not sure when exactly... Feedback would be very appreciated. :)_


End file.
